Big Dams and Assam

Brihat Nodi Baandh aru Asom

(This was published in the ‘The Sentinel Arunachal’ on February 03, 2011)

On December 14, 2010, a book titled Brihat Nodi Baandh Aru Asom was formally released by columnist Nitya Bora which has been published by the Nanda Talukdar Foundation and Bhawani Print and Publications. In this book, there is an open letter by an Arunachalee on dam issues which is translated into Assamese. Therefore, for the benefit of the Arunachalees, the original transcript which was in English is shared herewith.)

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Friends from Assam,

I really don’t know how many of the Arunachalees are glued to your discussion on dam issues. Though I am not claiming to be writing or speaking on behalf of the entire people of Arunachal but I would like to speak my mind. Let’s remind ourselves that the Subansiri Project was pushed forward by the AGP leaders, who emerged out of AASU’s anti-foreigners movement in the second half of the 1980s. Remember, that at the time also, Assamese leaders never bothered to consult the Arunachalees! Now the very bunch of people and their off-shoots are opposing it; again without any consultation. I find this attitude of the Assamese brethren akin to India’s ‘BIG BROTHER’ attitude vis-a-vis its neighbouring countries. Why are you people wrecking your brain over the dams in Arunachal? All the dams that you all are discussing are in Arunachal; and I don’t know how many of you have actually spoken to Arunachalees. I wonder who has authorized all of you to speak on whether Arunachalees need dams or not. I find all of you like a caricature of Hanuman but atleast Hanuman was authorized by Lord Rama to burn down Lanka. However, I wonder as to who authorized you all?

Neither it is the 1950s nor is it the 1980s; our fate cannot be decided by either political leaders or by activists from Assam. We don’t need unofficial spokesperson in Assam to voice our concerns. Today Arunachal Pradesh is as vibrant as any State in India; we do have our set of thinkers, social and political leaders of national and international standards. These leaders are capable of deciding our fate — present and future. We will decide our own fate.

I invite that young leader from Assam to come to Arunachal more often; travel with us to the border towns of Arunachal-Assam and help us solve the problems there and then talk about other issues. Would anyone volunteer to travel with us and help us solve the issues? It is also a fact that with the Assam assembly elections round the corner, people are hunting for problems and are pretending to be championing the causes of Asom. Please stop being problem hunters.

It would be a lie if you are saying that you are discussing the dam issue without a motive, a goal or an objective to achieve! If at all you are actually doing so then you have boarded the wrong bus and you may like to get off. Further, it would be an idealistic situation, it would be an utopian thought and a reverie to discuss dam issues without taking into account the ‘variable and non-variable’ extraneous factors, which is impacting the decision making process. And my response would be incomplete if I don’t express my amazement at your authority, your assertion and your clarity of thought that the answer lies in micro hydels for Arunachalees.

Let me run you through another recent historical fact about the dam story in Arunachal. Remember, first mega-dam in Arunachal was planned over the Siang somewhere near Pasighat. Do you know who was working on it? How long did it take? Why was it planned? Wasn’t it the Brahmaputra Board with zero employment of Arunachalees? I guess it was an Assamese-dominated organization then, and even now.  Wasn’t it done to check floods in the plains of Assam? Who demanded for the Gerakamukh Project when it was in doldrums? You all know about it. Need I say more on it?

But as I said earlier, I am neither pro-dam nor anti-dam. But I am opposed to the very idea of you people sitting in prosperous Assam hijacking our ‘assets/liabilities’ and discussing it as if there is no Arunachalee to raise the concerns on dams. I am not appreciative of such ‘hijacks’ because you all have been using different yardsticks for ‘common issues’. Why is it that you all never discuss Assam-Arunachal border problems? Arunachal Pradesh is a State which has been surviving on alms doled out by the Union Government for ages. I guess the story is same for all the NE States. So there is need to generate revenue, therefore there is nothing wrong if at all the State manages to do so. Not necessarily through dams, though.

There is nothing personal about what I am saying. Those are facts; present day realities; interpretations of discussions that has been going on and reactions from an Arunachalee. Today it is just me who has spoken out; but tomorrow there would be many more Arunachalees. I had to register my thoughts and views, which I have done — the rest is all for you to take it or leave it. But do remember that an Arunachalee has raised his concerns.

Thanks

Jarpum Gamlin                                                                                Camp: Itanagar

(The writer is an entrepreneur working in the media sector and is the president, Arunachal Press Club (APC). After working for various multinational companies, he is settled in Arunachal)

(In this book there are excerpts from the expert committee report, NHPC’s reaction, besides comments on the aforementioned report. Thought provoking articles by Dr Hiren Gohain, Dr Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharyya, Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, social activist Akhil Gogoi, foundation president Nitya Bora, Tarun Chandra Bhattacharyya, Niraj Baghelkar, Debojit Barua, Lakhi Hazarika and Keshav Krishna Chakradhara form parts of the book and has been edited by senior journalist, Mrinal Talukdar).